| Erin quickly stood up and began searching through Piper’s countless book shelves. Piper dragged a chair to the middle of the room and stepped onto it. She unattached the light and unscrewed the light bulb. She went through the entire basement going through every light. Mulder searched around Piper’s computer and printer, hoping to find anything out of the ordinary. Scully dragged her hands over and under desks and tables, searching for something bulging out of the object. The four searched for an hour, covering everything. Junk now cluttered the middle of the floor. Chairs and tables were overturned. The place looked like it was going through a hurricane. Erin began taking down pictures from the walls, being careful not to rip them. She pulled down one picture of her, Piper, and their friends and gasped. Piper looked to her and dropped the light bulb that she had in her hand. She looked at the wall behind the picture and saw a metallic looking chip. Mulder walked over to it and looked at Scully. Mulder carefully fingered the object and began pulling wires from the wall. Erin handed him a pair of scissors and he cut the wire, cutting off the power. The metal sizzled and smoke began coming from it. “Who would have wanted to bug my basement?” Piper asked. She picked up the picture that the metal had been behind. She looked at it closely. The picture was from Piper’s party. She stared at the faces of herself, Erin, Candy, Max, Kyla, and Hannah. “Someone who wanted to know what we know about this case.” Scully said. “Erin, you and Piper need to be extremely careful. Whoever bugged this is most likely the same person who killed your dogs. Now, if they’re willing to kill animals they’re probably willing to kill a human being. I’d make sure your family members and pets are kept together. No one should ever be alone at any given time, including you two.” Mulder said. “I’m going to call for protection on the body but I’m also going to ask for FBI agents to be placed outside each of your homes.” “They’ll deny my house being under protection. They think my father killed whatever that thing is.” “When they listen to Erin’s answering machine, they will.” Mulder said. That night, Piper sat up in bed. She looked at the clock and saw it was almost three AM. For the last two years, she slept barely three hours a night. The lack of sleep never bothered her. She got used to it but her parents never did. They tried everything to get their daughter to sleep. They took her to doctors and specialists who prescribed drugs and prescriptions but Piper never stayed on any of them long enough to find out if they actually worked. Most nights, Piper stayed up and wrote. She had a secret notebook under her bed that was used to write nighttime stories. Other days, she would just lie in bed and think. Piper stood up and walked across the hall into the bathroom. She knew the house so well in the dark that she didn’t need to look at anything. Piper walked into the bathroom and closed the toilet cover on the toilet. She sat down and opened the curtain of the window. She looked outside and saw two cars parked in front of her house. They must have been switching off. Piper had gotten up and watched them every few hours. Mulder and Scully had done as they had promised and had gotten both Erin and Piper protection from whatever killed Erin’s dogs. One of the dark cars rolled away from Piper’s house. Piper watched as one of them men in the new car lit up a cigarette. She stuck out her tongue, disgusted by the nasty habit. Piper had no one in her family that smoked and she was glad for it. Piper could hear Lynn rustling around in her bedroom. Inside her college dorm room, Lynn wouldn’t sleep until sometimes four in the morning. There was always some loud party down the hall or across the street at college. When she came home for her short Christmas break she still couldn’t sleep even though the noises were gone. Piper wanted to knock on her sister’s door and have them talk until dawn broke but she dared not. Lynn hadn’t been involved with the police yet on the case and Piper didn’t want her to be involved. Piper took one last look out the window and walked back into her own bedroom. She crawled up into bed and snuggled under the blankets. She closed her eyes and sighed. Scully looked up from the microscope and stared at Mulder. He nodded, giving her reassurance. She stepped out of the way and he looked through the eyes of the microscope. What he saw didn’t make since to him, but he knew what it meant anyway. “Mulder, do you know what this means?” Scully asked. She pushed a strand of red hair behind her ear and smiled. “I’m hoping it’s what I think it means but I want to hear it from your mouth.” Mulder said. “This means, that the body that Suzanne and Piper Alexander found…is extraterrestrial. You finally have your proof, Mulder.” Scully said. A large smile spread on her face from ear to ear. “No, Scully, we have our proof.” Mulder outstretched his arms and embraced Scully. It was a friendship hug to signify their new finding. This was going to change both of their lives forever. They let go of each other and just stared into each other’s eyes. “Do you know what this means? The entire world is finally going to believe us.” Mulder said. Scully didn’t know what to say. “How did it get in Piper’s backyard?” “Does that really matter?” Mulder asked, just happy that he had gotten the proof that he finally needed to go public. “I guess it’s not that important, but it’s worth looking into. Mulder, we have our proof in our names. People won’t look down at us anymore, Mulder, they’ll be looking up at us.” “Scully, people will always be looking down at you.” Mulder said, joking about her height. Scully laughed and they hugged again. Chapter 4 December 29, 1999 6:54 AM “Piper, telephone!” Piper’s father shouted, knocking on her bedroom door. Piper opened her eyes wide and looked to her clock. She knew that throughout the entire night she probably only had an hour of sleep. “Piper!” Her father shouted for a second time. “Coming.” She said. Her father walked opened the door and walked inside. He handed her the telephone and then exited her room, closing the door behind him. “Alexander.” She said. “Piper, it’s Scully. Are you awake?” Scully asked on the other line. “That depends. What’s your definition of awake?” Piper asked, closing her eyes. She rested the phone between her shoulder and chin. “Piper, this is important, please listen.” Scully paused. “Are the agents still outside your house?” “What?” Piper asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “Piper, listen.” Scully said sternly. “Go to the window and look outside.” Piper stood up and walked across the hall to the bathroom. She pushed the curtain to the side and looked to the street. “Are the agents that Mulder and I posted outside still there?” “No, should they be?” “Darn it.” Scully said. “Look, Piper, the bodies gone and the lab tests have been demolished.” “What?” Piper asked, perking up. She sat down on the floor and sighed. “Someone demolished the body and I’m thinking that the men we hired to protect you and Erin are the ones who are in on this.” “Why would you think that?” “Because, Piper…Erin’s gone.” Piper was silent. She didn’t know what to say. “What?” She managed to whisper. “Erin’s parents can’t find her and the agents last night didn’t check in. We think they took her.” “That chain smoking son-of-a…bad word.” Piper said. “Listen to me, Piper. Agent Mulder should be at your house in a few minutes. He’s going to take you down here, to the lab, and we’re going to figure this out together. We will find Erin, Piper.” Piper didn’t bother to respond. She turned the portable phone off and slammed it on the ground. She huddled in the corner of her bathroom and cried. She sat for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. “Piper, Agent Mulder is here!” Her dad yelled from downstairs. Piper stood up and wiped her eyes. She walked down the stairs and saw Mulder sitting on the couch. “We have to find her.” Piper said crying. “We’re going to try.” Mulder soothed. “Trying isn’t good enough.” Piper said. She expected Mulder to be more understanding but he acted as if he doubted that they would ever find Erin. “That’s the best we can do.” “What the hell is your problem? My best friend is missing and you can’t do anything about it? That’s bull.” “You know, Piper, sometimes I forget how young you are.” “What do you mean?” “You don’t understand death. You’re a teenager who’s been sucked into adult work…” “Are you telling me that I can’t help on this because of my age?” Piper paused. “I want you think to that first case that we ever went on together. Think about how my friends and I have helped you and Agent Scully over the years. Think about all I’ve seen and then tell me another teenager girl could cope with it as well as I have. Because if you tell me that, you’re more responsible for Erin’s disappearance then those men are. She is my best friend and she is one of the only people who can understand what I’m going through. Now, I want her back and you will help me. Let’s go” |